Maria, Maria
by KielaSierra
Summary: He was my best friend, and I was his. Nothing could tear us apart. Right?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, guys. Not a thing. Except for Saxton, her I can take credit for.**

The tune of a Spanish guitar and a soft, melodic voice filled my little apartment.

_Oh, Maria, Maria_

_She fell in love in East LA_

_To the sounds of the guitar, yeah_

_Played by Carlos Santana._

"No!" I shouted, more frustrated than I ever remembered being in my life. "It's not the right song!"

Two hours. Two hours wasted! The bloody song would not get out of my head! It was upbeat, fun, clearly a dance song, and had a Spanish sound to it. What was it called?! This song was going to be the death of me.

It didn't really help that I couldn't remember any of the lyrics. I think they were all in Spanish….so that could be a problem since I was hopeless when it came to the Spanish language. After 3 years of Spanish in high school, I gave up. I had only learned how to say "I don't know, sorry." "May I go to the bathroom please?" and "My eyes are on fire because your face is very ugly."

That last one got me into a whole lot of trouble. My friends that could speak Spanish thought it would be funny to have me tell that to my teacher. They told me it was a compliment. Jerks. I had to write a 200 word apology. IN SPANISH! Did I mention that my Spanish teacher hated me? She did.

It's okay though, I got her back. She never specified that the words had to be different, so my letter was pretty easy to write.

_Me llamo Saxton,_

_Lo ciento Seniora porque yo soy muy estupido. No habla espaniol bueno. No habla espaniol nada. Lo ciento Seniora porque yo soy muy estupido. No habla espaniol bueno. No habla espaniol nada. Lo ciento Seniora porque yo soy muy estupido. No habla espaniol bueno. No habla espaniol nada. Lo ciento Seniora porque yo soy muy estupido. No habla espaniol bueno. No habla espaniol nada. Lo ciento Seniora porque yo soy muy estupido. No habla espaniol bueno. No habla espaniol nada. Lo ciento Seniora porque yo soy muy estupido. No habla espaniol bueno. No habla espaniol nada. Lo ciento Seniora porque yo soy muy estupido. No habla espaniol bueno. No habla espaniol nada…_

Anyway, you get the point. I reached the required amount of words, and she couldn't really do anything about it because I followed the directions. Sucker. But, that is how my time in Spanish went. I failed, got in trouble, failed, got in trouble, and failed again. And this song was bringing those memories of failure back to me! Gah! What the hell is that song called?

I settled back down to try and figure it out. Okay Google, don't fail me now! I quickly typed in Spanish dance songs 2012. Apparently Banano00 had the same question as I did because BAM! Right there on Yahoo! Answers was: "Name of this popular Spanish dance song?"

"Come on Banano00! Get me my answer." I muttered, scrolling down to see the answers. "Alright, Ai Se Eu Te Pego, I hope you're the right song."

I pulled up YouTube and typed in the song by Michael Telo, clicked on the link, and sat back as it buffered.

"Please be the right song. Please be the right song. Please be the right song. Please be the right….dammit."

I sighed and cleared the search bar.

"I give up, okay? Are you happy? You win! I hate you!" I yelled out, tilting my head back and shaking my fist up at the ceiling.

I walked around my living room, telling all of my possessions how I felt about them and the fact that they couldn't tell me what song I was thinking of.

"Lamp, I hate you."

"Couch, I hate you."

"Window, I hate you."

"Guitar, I hate you."

"Ukulele, I hate you."

"T.V., I hate you."

I lay on the floor, face down.

"Rug, I hate you." I mumbled, face pressed into the area rug in my living room.

I lifted my head slightly and let it fall back down, hitting my forehead against the rug covered floor.

"Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."

This became my mantra as I lay on the floor, slowly bashing my head against the floor and losing more brain cells by the second. Who cares? I was a failure. A big, huge, whopping failure! I continued to mutter my new mantra, punctuating each word with a bang of my head on the floor.

I yelped and tried to grasp onto the rug when I suddenly felt myself being lifted up.

"What the fu…." I was flipped around in the grip of my assailant, only to see two dark brown eyes smiling back at me.

"Holy crap dude, you scared the crap outta me!" I said, relaxing in the grip of my best bud Embry. "What's wrong with you? Didn't your mama ever tell you not to scare poor, unsuspecting girls?"

"What's wrong with me? I walk in to find you lying on the floor, hitting your head repeatedly, and I'm the one with something wrong? I don't think so." He smirked at me.

"Whatever man, I was just trying to even out our intellectual playing field. Let's face it, I'm way too smart for you." I stuck my tongue out at him, grinning.

His eyes zeroed in on my tongue.

"Put that thing away Saxton. Now." He growled out, meeting my eyes now.

I grinned even bigger.

"Nope. Make me." I challenged, and stuck my tongue out at him again.

It all happened so fast that I was too disoriented to react right away. Embry had me pinned on the ground, knees holding my arms down, sitting on my upper thighs to still my legs.

"Hey!" I yelled, a little alarmed now. There was only one thing he did when he got me into this position. "Don't even think about i….STOP!"

With his hands free, he started to tickle me. Mercilessly! His fingers dug into my sides as I tried to thrash around and arch my back. Anything to get this dumb ass off of me! I twisted and turned, trying to lift my arms and throw my legs around. He was just too damn heavy!

"Em, Embry, OKAY!" I managed to choke out between all the laughter.

He stopped and let me catch my breath for a second.

"What was that, Sax? Who wins? Who is the intellectually superior one in the room?" He gave me this sickeningly sweet smile that made me want to punch him in the face.

I couldn't give in that easily. I knew I would have hell to pay, but really? He thought I'd give up that fast? No way bro, not a chance.

"Wow Emy-cakes, you've been reading that dictionary I got you for Christmas, haven't you? Big words you used there! I'm so proud!" And then I returned the sickly sweet smile with one of my own.

Embry shook his head, a look of mock sadness on his beautiful face.

"Alright Sax, guess we'll just have to do this the hard way." He sighed, giving me his best look of regret.

"Bring it on Emy-poo. Do your worst. I'll never cra….AH!" His hands dug into my sides once again, even harder this time. He was taking no prisoners.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Red…haha….red light! Hahaha, oh fuck! Em! Okay, Oh…..haha…kay! You win, you win!" I squealed out, thrashing around like a crazy person.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

We both froze. And then looked to the door way where a very angry, red faced Olivia stood. Her arms were crossed, eyes narrowed into a glare, and foot tapping an irritated beat in front of her.

"Uh…." Embry mumbled, not really sure what to say to his fuming girlfriend.

He quickly recovered and stood up, offering his hand to me. I looked at it and then stuck my tongue out at him, opting to stand up on my own. I decked him in the shoulder once I was back on my own two feet and walked past Miss Angry-Pants and into my kitchen.

"Chill Liv, she just made a smart remark about my intelligence and I got back at her by tickling her. I won, by the way. She said it herself."

I could hear the grin in his voice as he said the last part.

"Shut it Embry! I'm going to win next time! Just you wait and see."

I grabbed three glasses from my cupboard and the lemonade from the fridge before making my way back to the living room where Embry and Olivia were now standing.

"That's the thing," Olivia said, glaring at me.

Oh no. This is not going to be good. That look said, I hate you. I want to kill you. You disgust me. I never want to see your face again. But I didn't expect the words that came out of her mouth.

"I don't want you to hang out with her anymore."

Silence. Pure. Fucking. Silence.

"Excuse me?" I said, completely shocked.

I looked over to Embry's face to see him staring at her with the same surprise apparent on his face.

"You heard me!" Olivia spat nastily. "I want you to stay away from him. And you! You are not to talk to her anymore. Got it?"

I stared at Embry, waiting for him to tell this bitch to fuck off. You can't just tell best friends of 15 years to stop hanging out. Instead, he tried to placate her. What?

"Baby, you know Sax and I are best friends. You can't ask that of me. She's important to me, you know that."

Uh, excuse me? Still waiting for you to go bat shit cray-cray on her ass.

"No. You're supposed to be my best friend and I'm supposed to be your best friend. That's how boyfriends and girlfriends are. So either you stop hanging out with her, or you stop being my boyfriend. What will it be?" She put her hand on her hip and pursed her lips, looking like the Grade-A bitch that she was.

"Hah! You don't know what you just threw away dumb ass." I thought. I couldn't wait for Embry too call her out on her shit and tell her to get the hell away from us. No one could tear Embry and I apart, no one.

"Okay baby. Okay."

My head snapped up to meet the shamed face of my best friend. Well, former best friend I guess.

"What?" I asked, trying to get him to look me in the face. "You're giving up our friendship for this spoiled little brat that thinks she should be the center of everyone's universe? Really?"

His eyes met mine, and I could see the sadness in them.

"I'm sorry Sax. I'm so sorry." He said, his voice quiet and low.

"No. That's Saxton Stelling to you. Only my friends call me Sax. You gave that up the moment you picked -boobs over me." I bit back.

I could feel the ache in my chest and the tears in my eyes, but I would not show weakness in front of this bitch. I turned to her.

"I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day. People should just know that you, you are the center of everything. They shouldn't even breathe unless you tell them they can. Everyone should know to keep you happy and make your wants and wishes the priority. Embry certainly learned that pretty quickly. Have a great rest of your lives living in Olivia land! Now get the hell out of my apartment and don't come back unless you want to be escorted out by the cops."

I grabbed Olivia's purse and Embry's keys off of the counter. I calmly walked over to my open window and chucked them out. I was only on the first floor of my house, but it still felt good.

"Hey!" Olivia screamed, running out the door and after her precious purse. Probably had her diet pills in there or something.

Embry gave me one last dejected look and stepped towards me. Uh-uh, no way ass hat. I took a step back.

"Ba-bye now." I waved and gave him my biggest fake smile.

He sighed, hung his head more, and walked out of my apartment. I shut the door behind him and walked into my room. I needed to hit the gym. I grabbed a pair of wraps from the top drawer and changed into some basketball shorts and a sports bra, throwing a zip up hoodie over it. I grabbed my iPod and sneakers and waited for about 10 minutes. Didn't want to run into the dynamic-duo-of-dumbassery.

After the appropriate amount of time, I walked out of my apartment and jogged down the three flights of stairs. I threw open the doors and walked out into the warm, humid air.

I walked down the block to the studio that I trained at. I shoved the doors open and walked straight to my favorite red punching bag. A chorus of greetings rang out to me.

"Hey Sax!"

"Hey girl!"

"How's it going Sax?"

"Dude! Sax! How's it hanging?"

I gave my other friends training a little head nod and then set about wrapping my hands. I wasn't in the mood to deal with people. I had steam to blow. My best friend just dumped me…was that even possible? Can you dump a friend? Sure felt like it. He listened to his bitchy girlfriend over me, and I still didn't know what the song stuck in my head was! Fuck this.

I finished up wrapping my hands and turned to the bag. I would bring a picture of Miss Priss tomorrow and tape it to the bag I decided. Nothing like a bitch with a bad attitude and an unpleasantly nasally voice to motivate me to hit the bag harder. I took off my hoodie and flung it to the side. Anger was my friend, my comfort. I was not going to let anyone hurt me. Not even my best friend. Especially not my best friend.

With that last thought, I set about beating the crap out of my favorite red punching bag. The steady pounding of my fists and elbows connecting with the bag blanked my mind and allowed some clarity to settle over me. Tomorrow was a new day. Tomorrow was a new me. Tomorrow would be better.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, guys. Not a thing. Except for Saxton, her I can take credit for.**

3 days later (Friday)…

"I HATE THIS SONG!" I yelled.

This is ridiculous! One fricken song can rule my entire life all because I don't know the name. I could hear the tune in my head, hear the voice even. I just couldn't make out the damn words! I turned the radio on as soon as I got home from work, listened to the Shakira station on Pandora, and tried humming into SoundHound. Nothing. It was baffling really.

Pounding on my door brought me out of my brooding.

"Just a second!" I called down the hallway, rushing to grab a pair of pants to throw over the boxers I was wearing.

The pounding didn't stop. Geeze, this person must really want to see me. I tripped down the hallway, hopping on one foot as I tried to maneuver the pants over my feet.

"One second! I'm coming!" I screamed, trying to get the person to stop with the incessant knocking already.

I reached the door just as I pulled the waist band of the sweats I'd grabbed up onto my hips. I blew out a breath and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear before calmly opening my door.

"Paul?"

He shoved his way in and went into the kitchen.

"It's nice to see you too, buddy." I said sarcastically as I followed him and watched as he went straight to the fridge and pulled out a couple cans of juice.

He walked past me again, going to sit on a stool by my counter top. He popped open the two cans and downed the first one before turning to me.

"What's up with you and Embry, Sax? And don't tell me it's nothing, I know something's up."

Really? Paul was here to talk to me about what was wrong? He was being sensitive and caring? Oh dear Lord, I'd seen it all now.

"Don't worry about it Paul. There's nothing you can do about it anyway, so just don't worry." I turned away from him and went to grab a juice of my own.

"Oh no you don't, Sax. What happened? All of a sudden there's trouble in paradise, and I want to know what it is." He called after me.

I popped open my can of juice and returned to where Paul was, sitting on the stool next to him.

"The problem is, Embry is a dumb ass." I said, gulping down a mouthful of my juice.

"No shit Einstein, we all know that. So what gives?"

Ugh. I so did not want to have this conversation with Paul. I didn't want to have it with anyone. I just wanted to forget it ever happened and let Embry and Olivia live in their little delusional world where she was a catch and Embry was lucky to have her.

"Olivia told him to choose between her and me. He chose her. End of story time! Let's talk about music now. Have you by chance heard a really great Spanish, dance/pop song that they play at clubs and on the radio every now and then?"

Paul just stared at me dumbly.

"Alright, I'm ready for the punch line now." He said, completely serious.

"I'll give you a punch line alright. Right to the face! Snap out of it Paul, he chose her. It's done. Over with. Let's move on now. The song, have you heard the song?"

I was getting angry now. Didn't he understand that the unknown song had been driving me crazy for the past three days?! This was important! Screw Embry and Olivi-douche. Who cared about them anyway? Not this girl! I'd find a new best friend. Hell, Paul could be my new best friend! If he'd tell me the name of the damn song, that is.

"Look, Sax, you gotta talk about this. You and Em have been friends since you were what, eight? You can't throw it away because he made a dumb decision over a dumb girl. I know you care more than you're letting on." Paul looked at me with such pity, I just wanted to hurl.

"Uh, no thanks. I'm fine. It was Embry's decision, and if he's alright with it than I am too. I don't need him. Sure, we were best friends, but there are tons more people out there I can be friends with. You're my friend. You are, right?" I asked, looking at him a little nervously now.

Paul and I were friends through Embry. Yeah, we hung out sometimes without Embry there, but we met initially through him. Would he side with Embry now and ditch me too?

"Of course I am, girl. Get over here."

He set his juice down and turned to me, opening his arms. I gladly stood up and moved into his embrace, letting his warmth surround and comfort me.

"It'll be okay. I promise. We'll talk some sense into the kid yet, just you wait and see." He murmured into my hair as he placed a kiss to the top of my head.

I hadn't realized how much I needed a hug. I closed my eyes and rested my cheek against the steady beat of Paul's heart. Traitorous tears pricked at the corners of my eyes and leaked through the tight seal that I tried to make by clenching my eyes shut. I didn't sob, or scream, or cry out. My pain was more than that. It tore at my heart, left wounds on the inside where they weren't visible. I'm sure Paul could feel it as his t-shirt got soaked with my tears, but he didn't say anything. He just held me and let me be.

We sat there for a long time, him holding me and me reveling in the comfort. I pulled away slowly and wiped at my eyes, giving him a shy smile.

"That's my girl." He said, tousling my hair a bit.

"Thanks Paul." I murmured, looking down a bit embarrassed.

"Whoa there, don't go getting all emotional on me now miss tough-guy!" He said, playfully.

"Oh hush up, Paulina. Don't get your granny panties in a twist." I said back, smiling.

It felt good to joke around with someone. I'd holed myself up in my house for the past three days, only going to work and to train at the gym. I'd locked myself up with my laptop, trying to figure out the name of the damn evasive song that was still stuck in my head.

"So, how is Rachel doing? Why didn't she come with you? You guys never go anywhere without each other!" I said, in mock horror when I realized that his longtime girlfriend wasn't with him.

"She went out with Kim, Claire, and Leah to have a girl's day. They're doing weird girl stuff and I'm staying far, far away from that. Last time I went with them, I ended up with pink toe nails and those weird rhinestone sticker things on my face. Never underestimate the power a very insistent 13 year old has." He shuddered as he remembered the bright pink nails and the silver rose on the side of his face.

I burst out laughing! That was one hell of a day! He'd insisted that he could go along on girls day, and when he'd come home, he'd insisted that he was never allowed to go on another girls day. I had the pictures somewhere in my room, for blackmailing purposes of course.

"Oh come on Paulina! You know you loved it. You were so adorbs!"

He stood up and grabbed my wrist, dragging me towards my door.

"Wait. Hold on, Paul! Paul!" I yelled, trying to get free of his grip. Where was this psycho taking me?

He continued dragging me along, grabbed my keys from where they hung next to the door, and then pulled it closed behind us as he pushed me out the front door.

He tugged me behind him, towards his car and said, "You're coming to hang with me and the boys. I'm not going to let you stay here all alone and stew by yourself this weekend."

"But I'm trying to figure out the name of the song I heard a few days ago! It's very important. I don't think you realize that my mental stability is on the line here. I'm going to go crazy if I don't figure it out!"

Paul paused for a moment as we were walking down the stairs. He gave me this, "you gotta be kidding me" look, and then turned around and kept walking.

"Paul?" I called after him. "Paul? Paul! Did you hear me?"

"Oh yeah, princess crazy face, I heard you. You can continue you nut-job search at Jacobs's house with me and the rest of the guys. Hell, maybe they'll even help you. Lord knows you need all the help you can get." He mumbled the last part, but I heard it well enough.

I decked him in the shoulder.

"What was that, Paulina?" I asked, using my most intimidating voice.

"Nothing, nothing. Now calm down, tiger, before you hurt yourself." He smirked at me and walked up to his passenger side, opening the door for me.

I pouted, but slid in quietly and buckled up.

Today was definitely better. Yeah, I didn't have Embry in my life right now, but I still had my other friends. I still had Paul. And that was good enough for me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, guys. Not a thing. Except for Saxton, her I can take credit for.**

"That's not fair!" Quil whined, throwing his microphone into the couch and sitting and pouting like a child.

"Clearly Claire has rubbed off on you, man. You look like a little kid!" I laughed.

This was my second day hanging with the guys. The first was consumed with all of us on our own laptops or iPads, or smart phones. The drive to Jake's house took all of 10 minutes since I lived in the neighboring town, Forks. When we walked in the door, I explained the situation with the song I was trying to figure out. I'd hummed the song for them, and they all agreed that it sounded very familiar. So we spent 6 hours playing Pandora's Shakira station on the big screen TV and searching for the song on the internet.

Six whole hours brought us nothing. Absolutely nothing. We were all getting ready to give up when Claire came in the door humming the tune softly. All windows were minimized, sound was turned off, and we all turned to stare at her.

She continued to go about her business, untying her shoes and setting them by the door, hanging up her light jacket, and pulling her hair back. She turned to face all of us and froze. She stared at us as we stared at her, hands still holding her hair up so she could put it into a ponytail.

"Uh…..hey guys." She mumbled, looking around at us warily. "Why is everyone staring at me like that?"

"What is the name of that song?" Paul cut in, getting straight to business.

"Um, I don't know. I just heard it on the radio on the way over here." She said, looking at us with confusion.

"What station?" Quil yelled, as he flipped his laptop back open and opened up to Google.

"I think it was 102.7. What's going on?" She asked, looking around at all of us as we all typed furiously on our phones, laptops, and iPads.

She was answered with the click-clack of keys being pressed and the soft mumbling as we talked to ourselves while reading through the info we pulled up.

An energetic dance beat started playing, followed by Spanish lyrics that I wish I could understand. I looked up to meet the startled eyes of Quil as he looked at me and then back down to his phone, where the music was playing from. He found it! He found my song!

"Danza Kuduro! Guys! It's Danza Kuduro! Way to go Claire-bear!" Quil yelled as he jumped up and ran to Claire, scooping her up in his arms and spinning her around.

Claire giggled and held tight to Quil for dear life as he spun her around in dizzying circles. The rest of us shut off our pieces of technology and sagged into our chairs. The relief in the room was tangible. It was absolutely ridiculous! A song should not have this much power over our lives, but it did, and we figured out what it was now! So it was all good.

Today, we were having a Karaoke-off. Jake, Paul, Jared, Leah and me vs. Sam, Seth, Quil, Colin, and Brady. Claire, Emily, Kim, and Rachel were sitting on the couch, laughing their asses off as we battled to the end.

"What's not fair, cry baby Quil? Leah asked in an overly sweet, motherly tone.

"Oh shut it Leah. You guys have two girls! That's an unfair advantage!"

The girls on the couch burst out into a fresh round of giggles as Quil continued to throw his temper tantrum.

"Um, think again Sherlock. You've got two pre-pubescent boys on your team. That's just as good as having two girls, genius." Paul's deep voice was annoyed.

Quil had been making excuses for why his team sucked and our team rocked every time we beat them. Their song was harder, our song had more rapping so it didn't count as a real song, he hadn't had adequate time to prepare his vocal chords for this competition, and now, we had girls and they didn't.

"Are you admitting that our team is better than yours Quil?" Leah asked a big smirk on her face and a hand on her hip. "Because we definitely are."

"Alright!" Emily came to the rescue, cooling the situation down before anyone had the chance to really get into it. "I think it's time for dinner guys! Let's go eat and cool off, and then we can continue this battle afterwards."

We put the karaoke stuff away and grabbed the dishes of food in the kitchen, and headed out the door towards the beach. There was a bonfire/barbeque at the beach tonight, and Jake just lived down the street.

I strolled down the street to the beach, my arm linked with Seth's. He was holding a pan of chicken and a tray of cookies in the arm linked with mine, and had a crockpot in the other hand.

"See Emy-bear. She's a total slut. Just look at her! All draped over poor Seth like that, and not even a week after you got rid of her. I told you."

I looked to where that nasally, unpleasant voice was coming from and saw Olivi-bitch pointing at me with her other hand on her hip, which was cocked to the side so much that she just looked unbalanced. I knew that she and Embry were going to be here. Everyone in La Push was invited, everyone 18 and older at least. This wasn't a party for the kids.

"Not now Olivia. Stop trying to cause trouble." Embry whispered to her, trying to get her to back off.

She just shook him off and walked towards Seth and me. We had paused when she first started speaking, but started walking towards the larger crowd where the tables were set up for the food part way through her little rant. Neither of us really cared all that much what she thought.

"Hey, you know what? That's good for you, because Embry is never going to settle for you when he has me! So it's good that you finally gave up your little, pathetic dream and moved on."

She sounded so sure of her-self, so confident. Was it really possible for someone to be that stupid? Apparently it was, because she didn't stop there. She really, really wanted to piss me off I guess. Too bad I'm a master at ignoring stupid girls.

"Who invited you anyway? Seth? Are you two an item now? What is he, a senior in high school? 17 year's old, maybe. My goodness. Now we can add cradle robber along with slut to your many names." She giggled to herself, proud of her insults. Why? I don't know. They all seemed pretty juvenile to me.

"Hey, listen here bimbo. I invited her to come to this barbeque. And so did Jared, Seth, Paul, Sam, Colin, Brady, Quil, Jake, Rachel, Emily, Claire, and Kim. If I'm doing the math right, that means she has 12 more people that invited her than you do. So, if you're going to be a bitch all night, you can leave. Got it, dipshit?" Leah fumed.

The dimbo (dumb-bimbo) just didn't understand. She turned to Embry and whined.

"Emy-bear, are you going to let her talk to me like that? Put this dumb bitch in her place."

Embry just looked at her and shook his head.

"I think it's time for us to go."

He sighed dejectedly and turned to walk away.

"Embry!" Olivi-monster screeched. "Get back here!"

He didn't even pause, just kept walking.

"Embry get over here now!" She tried again, still screeching like a banshee.

"Embry get over here or we're through!"

That caught his attention. He walked back toward us all, and she smirked at me, thinking that she had won again. Oh boy was she wrong.

"Get back here or we're through?" Embry hissed, barely containing his rage. "Get back here or we're through?! What did you just say to me? Because it sounded an awful lot like BULL SHIT! You already cost me my best friend and the respect of the rest of my friends. Now mind your fucking mouth, apologize to everyone, and get into the fucking car."

Olivi-stupid-head just stood there for a moment, completely stunned. I have to admit, I'd never seen Embry so angry in my life. I was even shocked. Apparently she stood there for a moment too long, because Embry snapped at her again.

"Now Olivia!"

She jumped about a foot in the air. She turned to us slowly, eyes cast down to the sand.

"I'm sorry." She muttered. So quietly that if I hadn't seen her lips move, I never would have known she spoke.

"They couldn't hear you. Look at them." Embry's voice was low and quiet. Too quiet.

Olivia looked up at us and murmured, a little more audibly this time, "I'm sorry." Then she turned and walked past Embry to his car.

"I'm sorry everyone. I really am." Embry looked at me as he said the last part, eyes so pained that I let out a gasp and gripped Seth's arm a little tighter.

He turned away too and walked to his car to take Olivi-dumbass home. We all just stood there, rooted to the spot as his car pulled out onto the road and drove off. No one moved.

"Well," I said, breaking the silence, "that was fun!"

A couple seconds ticked by before Leah started to laugh. Then Jake, then Paul, then Seth, until eventually everyone was laughing. People started moving food around on the tables again, and setting up the drink coolers. I grabbed the tray of cookies from Seth's overly full hands and took it over to the desert table. I snagged Leah's arm as I walked past her and pulled her with me. I set the cookies down and then hugged her.

"Thank you Leah. That meant a lot to me. More than you'll ever know." I whispered in her ear as I hugged the crap out of her.

She laughed a little.

"Don't mention it. Bitch had it coming to her. Someone had to knock her off her high horse." She grinned at me. "I'm just glad I was the one that got to do it."

We both grabbed plates and went to dish up some food before the men came through and cleaned house. We sat down on one of the logs around the bonfire to eat. A few minutes later, the boys joined us, along with Emily, Kim, Rachel, and Claire. My friends were with me. They cared about me enough to back me up instead of Olivia. I should be happy. I should be ecstatic! Over the moon even. But I wasn't. There was still one thing missing. Embry. My best friend, my confident, and the boy that I secretly loved as more than a best friend. I'd just never had the nerve to tell him how I felt. Why ruin a perfectly good friendship for something that could tear us apart, right?

Well, he was with Olivi-douche-wad now, so I couldn't do much about it. He chose her, I didn't force him to pick her. And I couldn't force him to pick me. Right now I had to be thankful for what I had gained. I have 13 wonderful friends, a nice house in Forks, and a good job. My life was pretty darn great.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, guys. Not a thing. Except for Saxton, her I can take credit for.**

"Mmmm" I groaned.

Hot water was definitely one of my very favorite things in the world. It could literally fix any problem. For the length of time that you were in it at least. School troubles? Hit the shower. Family drama? Take a hot bath. Your best friend ditched you because his dick-faced girlfriend told him to? Let's just combine the two. Plug the tub, fill it with 5, maybe 6 inches of hot water, and then turn it to shower mode. All you gotta do is sit back in the tub and let the water work its magical powers of relaxation.

That is what I was currently doing. Relaxing, enjoying the warmth and comfort that my steamed up bathroom provided for me. I should have known it would be interrupted.

Pounding on my bathroom door hand me jumping and sloshing water out of the tub. What the crap? Who just walks into my house? Yeah, I leave the door unlocked during the day, but that doesn't mean you can just walk in! If I don't answer when you knock, come back at a later fucking time! Don't just waltz in!

"Saxton! We need to talk! Get out of the bathroom."

What the hell? Embry? Who does he think he is? He can't just walk in my home and order me around. Oh no, uh-uh, not gonna happen buddy.

"Get out of my house, dick-wad! You can't just walk in whenever you want!" I yelled through the shower curtain.

"Come out of the bathroom right now, or I'm knocking the door down and dragging you out myself."

Oh, what the fuck ever. Like he would ever have the balls to do that.

"Whatever Embry. I'm busy right now, so you can go fuck yourself. Better yet, go fuck your precious Olivia and get out of my fricken house!"

Oh yeah, that'll teach him to mess with me. The pounding on my door got exponentially harder. What the crap? He was actually going to break down my door!

"That's it! I don't care if you're taking a damn shower bath! We are talking, and we are talking now."

With that, my door came crashing down. I shrieked and grabbed the shower curtain, pulling it towards myself. He ripped it away and reached in, shutting off the water and pulling the stopper out to drain the tub. He turned and grabbed my towel and then turned back to me and yanked me to my feet.

Wrapping the towel around me, he hauled me up and over his shoulder.

"Put. Me. Down." I said, trying to stay calm.

He totally ignored me and walked out of the bathroom.

"Put me down now!" I screamed, pounding my fists against his back and kicking my feet.

His hand came down against my butt, hard. It stung like a fucking bitch!

"Stop."

That's all I get? Excuse me? You come in my house, drag me out of my shower-bath, throw me over your shoulder like a fucking cave man, and all you have to say to me is stop? I didn't say any of that. Instead, I just went limp in his hold. No use fighting when it wasn't going to work. Might as well save up my energy for when he put me down and I could actually do some damage.

He dumped me onto my bed and headed over to my closet. I just stared at his back. He rummaged around in drawers grabbing a pair of panties, a bra, some shorts, and then grabbed one of my shirts hanging up. He came back over to me and dumped them in my lap, then turned around and just waited.

"Uh, what are you doing?" I asked.

He didn't really expect me to get dressed while he was standing right there, did he? Because he was just dreaming if he did.

"Get dressed." He ordered, not moving at all.

"No way! Get out of my room you weirdo. I'm not getting dressed in front of you."

The disgust was clear in my voice and caused him to straighten his back a little more

"Technically you're getting dressed behind me. Now hurry up. If I walk out that door, you'll lock me out and then I'll have to break down another one of your doors. So shut up and get dressed."

After a moment of silence, me glaring at the back of his head and hoping that it would set on fire, and him standing there all "I'm He-man, do what I tell you without any questions", I got dressed. I dropped my towel, pulled on the clothes he gave me, and walked past him and to my door. I walked right out and down the stairs, Embry trailing behind me.

I passed my living room and headed straight for my front door. As soon as my hand touched the door knob, Embry grabbed my arm and started to drag me to the couch. After much kicking, punching, biting, and explicit words, he managed to settle me on the couch. He had to sit on me, but he still had me on the couch.

"I can't believe you just bit me! Saxton, I just want to talk to you. We need to talk." Embry was panting from how hard he had to work to subdue me.

I'm sure I'd laugh about this later. When he was no longer sitting on me and crushing the air out of my lungs! But it was kind of funny that such a huge guy had trouble restraining little ol' me. Kind of funny. But not enough to put me out of the bad mood I was in.

"We have nothing to talk about! You made that clear when you just went along with Olivi-stupid-head when she told you never to hang out with me again!"

I turned my head away from him, not wanting him to see the tears that had gathered. I would not cry over this fool again. I'd cried with Paul already, no need to waste more tears on my former best friend. With that though, I got a hold of myself. He wasn't worth my tears. He didn't care enough to fight for me, I wouldn't care enough to cry for him.

I turned back to face him, all traces of tears gone now.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't stand up for you. I'm sorry I just left you and didn't even give you an explanation. I'm sorry I didn't just dump Olivia then and there and tell her to go find someone else to boss around. I'm sorry, okay?"

I just stared at him for a minute, not quite sure what to think. Sorry? He was sorry? Well he should be!

"You should be sorry! 15 years of friendship Embry! 15 fuckin years! You just gave it up. Am I that unimportant to you? You just gave me up like I was nothing, like it didn't matter to you."

My heart ached as I voiced my fears. Was I as important to him as he was to me?

"Of course you matter to me! You're everything to me. You're my best friend. I told Olivia that she had to either accept that you are a part of my life, or I would cut myself out of her life." He got off of me and sat on the floor in front of me.

Uhh…..what?

"You didn't break up with her?" I asked, sitting up and looking at him now that he was eye level.

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the ground.

"No. No I didn't."

"Then why are you here?"

My words cut through the air, sharp and angry. How dare he come over here and think everything's okay when he hadn't cut the problem out of his life!

His head snapped up at my words. "What do you mean why am I here? I want to fix us! I want things to go back to normal!"

I shook my head sadly at him. "They can't go back to normal. She gave you a choice to make, and so far you've picked her over me."

I got up and walked to my front door, opening it. I stepped back, to the side.

"Until you cut her from your life, I don't want to have you here at my house without anyone else. If you want to hang out with the boys, and I happen to be there, so be it. I'll be nice. We can be friends, but it's not going to be the way it used to be. Not with her still in your life. I'm sorry. I love you, I do. But I can't keep doing this to myself. You need to leave." My voice wavered on the last couple sentences.

I knew it wouldn't happen, but in my mind I kept begging him to confess his love for me. To pour out his heart to me and tell me he'd break up with fake-tits-Olivia today. That he needed me and wanted me back in his life. But he didn't, and I knew he wouldn't. It doesn't mean it hurt any less though.

Slowly, Embry stood up and walked towards me. He paused in front of me, staring at me with such sadness that I just wanted to hug him and tell him I forgave him. He sighed and walked out the door, down the steps, got in his car, and drove away from my house...and out of my life.

Okay, seriously. I need help guys! I don't know what to do now. This is not just writers block. This is a bloody cement wall in between me and my ideas. HELP!


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